Food, life, love, and fun recipes

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breakfast

I had come so close to cancelling a reservation the day following a feast at Mermaid Oyster Bar and awoke early and groggy last Thursday morning. With one eye barely open, I was lucky I managed to find some clothes to pull on before hopping on a nearly empty train downtown. The hostess greeted us brightly as we were escorted past a thick wood counter bar and a glass display case housing pastries sitting on pedestals. Suddenly, my mouth was watering and I was hungry again.

The exposed wood beams in the space channeled many of the restaurants you can find in Italy, except here everything still appeared new. And after a moment spent reminiscing about my time spent in Rome many years ago, I knew what I wanted to start with – un cornetto e cappucino. Then followed a moment of indecisiveness generated by nothing less than pure gluttony. Baked eggs in tomato or the fruit, granola, and yogurt made exceptional with a drizzle of vin cotto? Luckily I didn’t have to choose!

Tasting Table was offering subscribers an amazing deal at Maialino – a prix fixe breakfast for only (I know, I’m now officially spoiled) 21 dollars. And so tacking on that extra order of fruit/granola/yogurt was no big deal. After all, I’d be a fool not to order as my heart pleased, since I was already the fool who would wake up an hour earlier than is necessary for work, on a weekday, to go out to have breakfast.

We went whole hog, by normal breakfast standards. Our order included toffee glazed brioche, cornetto, baked eggs in spicy tomato, poached egg on crispy pork terrine, spinach pecorino sausage, thick cut bacon, and oh, that last grasp at healthy eating – granola and yogurt with fresh fruit. Everything was beyond amazing. And I was so stuffed I walked the 20+ blocks to work.

…so buying that orange brioche from Balthazar this morning probably wasn’t the best idea, but I figured it was time to treat myself to something nice on a workday.

dig the High/Low breakfast combo?

I’d normally never ever get an orange flavored anything (that isn’t, naturally, an orange) but this was one of those bakery items that you’d NEVER get to see during my usual mid-afternoon “poke my head in to look around”s (yes, literally. The line in the tiny claustrophobic space makes me feel invisible and therefore, less guilty about never buying anything). So, the verdict? A subtle hint of orange flavor, not overly buttery, slightly crispy outside – pretty damn good. I also found out via Coworker Patrick, that Coworker Seth always gets the chocolate croissant for breakfast. Which gives me more than one reason for wanting to reach over our desks to pilfer his nosh. (The original reason was to obliterate the glass of ice he loudly and annoyingly crunches on.)

Sunday was the cherry on top of the weekend, starting with a brunch treat of wheat toast, topped with mascarpone and strawberries, and ending with Momofuku‘s infamous Bo Ssam dinner. And even with a group of 10, we had enough leftovers for a donation towards the Poor Girl Needs Lunch foundation.

pork and lettuce, surrounded by 4 tasty sauces.. only 3 of which made it to lunch today. What happened to the ssamjang? It was the best!

Securing a reservation for bo ssam’s been a bit easier than it has been in the past (due to Momofuku‘s New Big Thing: beef 7-ways) so get 10 of your best buddies together and go for it! The absolutely juicy and tender pork, wrapped in the most perfect pieces of bibb lettuce I’ve ever seen…. is a carnivore’s heaven.